Well I hunting opening morning on an invite to a little east texas place for opening weekend. I hunted the first day with no shooters. However one of the bucks off the game cams visited another stand. We called him crabclaw because of the G3. I decided to hunt that stand the next evening. Well what do ya know...he hit the other stand and there was video of him broadside looking away at 20 YARDS! Well, ok no problem. I will just hunt that stand...well he showed up but it was legally too dark for me to shoot. I had to let him walk but I did get to see him for a while. This was by far the best buck I have ever shot or seen in real life for that matter. Well it was monday and I had to get back home.
I was asked if I would like to stay for the evening hunt. I was thinking, man that would put me back home late and I still have to unpack. Then, second nature clicked in and I was like "what the heck, its just work!" I figured I was already there...so why not hunt the last evening. It would be dumb not to, right?
Well I sat there all evening with nothing shootable. It was getting dark, no deer. My hopes were slowing. Out of the right of my eye here comes Crabclaw! I watched and he came right in at 20 yards and started eating. I eased the bow back to full draw....and....and....a DANG narrow non-shooter eight walked right between him and me
. He was there forever. I gently let the bow back down. Well, the Crabclaw buck decided to walk away 12 yards directly away from me! DANG! Well he turned broadside. I figured it was now or never.....32 YARDS! I figured if I drew and I was shaky...he walks...end of hunt. Well I put the pin on him and....rock solid. He was eating corn when I let loose of the arrow. SHWACK! He spun around and kicked over right there making a small horseshoe spin. He was down for the count. I gathered up my stuff and looked and he had flopped around and actually had made it ten yards away from me. I figured he’d flip over at any second and that would be it in a second but he was laying down with his head up. I put my 40 yard pin on him while he was laying there and slipped on under his ribs at 40 yards getting the other lung and heart. His head went down instantly. I was taking no chances!
My first shot had went high and only clipped the top of the lung. Apparently he had leaned to get some corn when I released. I hit a few inches higher than I would have liked. My poor old bow just slings out those arrows too slow and you cant call it back once the release is pulled! Anyhow, He was down within a 10 yards of the original shot.
Now heres the deal. I couldnt have done any of this with out a certain someone. I cant say his name for fear of letting out on his secret east texas honeyhole
. However we scouted out the place and there were hoof prints all over
. This guy was top notch one of the best people I know. He invited me just to invite me. no strings attached. He specifically said he wasnt doing it for a knife. However after seeing a couple bucks on the games cams...he said "that one will cost TWO knives
!!!" Well, I was making him one before season started just for the invite. However with a visit from Ike I ran out of electricity! I made good headway on it tonight and plan on mailing him one shortly. This was by by far the best buck of my lifetime and may never get another chance like this again. Guys, this will be a memory I will be talking about when I am too old to hunt. I cant thank him enough. I hope he reads this and knows how much it meant to me. I cant possibly repay him enough for the great time we had. I’ll never forget it.
P.S. The fresh deer sausage and back strap tenderized deer steaks I had today were great!!!
I was asked if I would like to stay for the evening hunt. I was thinking, man that would put me back home late and I still have to unpack. Then, second nature clicked in and I was like "what the heck, its just work!" I figured I was already there...so why not hunt the last evening. It would be dumb not to, right?
Well I sat there all evening with nothing shootable. It was getting dark, no deer. My hopes were slowing. Out of the right of my eye here comes Crabclaw! I watched and he came right in at 20 yards and started eating. I eased the bow back to full draw....and....and....a DANG narrow non-shooter eight walked right between him and me
. He was there forever. I gently let the bow back down. Well, the Crabclaw buck decided to walk away 12 yards directly away from me! DANG! Well he turned broadside. I figured it was now or never.....32 YARDS! I figured if I drew and I was shaky...he walks...end of hunt. Well I put the pin on him and....rock solid. He was eating corn when I let loose of the arrow. SHWACK! He spun around and kicked over right there making a small horseshoe spin. He was down for the count. I gathered up my stuff and looked and he had flopped around and actually had made it ten yards away from me. I figured he’d flip over at any second and that would be it in a second but he was laying down with his head up. I put my 40 yard pin on him while he was laying there and slipped on under his ribs at 40 yards getting the other lung and heart. His head went down instantly. I was taking no chances!My first shot had went high and only clipped the top of the lung. Apparently he had leaned to get some corn when I released. I hit a few inches higher than I would have liked. My poor old bow just slings out those arrows too slow and you cant call it back once the release is pulled! Anyhow, He was down within a 10 yards of the original shot.
Now heres the deal. I couldnt have done any of this with out a certain someone. I cant say his name for fear of letting out on his secret east texas honeyhole
. However we scouted out the place and there were hoof prints all over. This guy was top notch one of the best people I know. He invited me just to invite me. no strings attached. He specifically said he wasnt doing it for a knife. However after seeing a couple bucks on the games cams...he said "that one will cost TWO knives !!!" Well, I was making him one before season started just for the invite. However with a visit from Ike I ran out of electricity! I made good headway on it tonight and plan on mailing him one shortly. This was by by far the best buck of my lifetime and may never get another chance like this again. Guys, this will be a memory I will be talking about when I am too old to hunt. I cant thank him enough. I hope he reads this and knows how much it meant to me. I cant possibly repay him enough for the great time we had. I’ll never forget it.P.S. The fresh deer sausage and back strap tenderized deer steaks I had today were great!!!
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